This post is part of Hack Library School’s “Day in the Life of a Library Student.” The goal is to show hopeful future SLISers what LIS School is like, and to create a platform for communication between students (and professionals).

So, here is my run-down of DAY 3:

Went to bed at 2 AM, and got up at 6 AM. Why do I keep including this? I think potential students need to realize that less-than-perfect sleep is common for any grad student. Now, I don’t work, so I am a little more flexible, but future students need to know!

I honestly don’t remember much from the morning, except that I couldn’t find my travel coffee mug, so I couldn’t take my coffee to class. *sad face* Today’s class is my last for the week: Information Technology. We discuss IRBs as we begin to craft our usability studies- just so we’re aware of what research outside of class entails. We then learn introductory information about databases, and how they differ from spreadsheets.

Following class, I met with my group to establish our usability survey and methodologies. I’m surprised at how many factors go into a simple survey! We had to make consent forms, discuss age groups, identify hardware to be used, if we should allow forms to be read to participants, etc. YIKES! After about an hour, we had solid protocols for gathering information, and had our survey complete. It was intense, but we’re pretty far ahead now!

After this, I attended a lecture by Maureen Henninger on data visualization. It was fantastic! I’m interested in looking into accessibility features for applications/platforms that support data visualization, because I don’t know how the information could be communicated to visually impaired users. I’m not bashing the visualization, but trying to be inclusive before I start throwing images and maps together! I REALLY wish we had a class at SLIS that covered that aspect of information. She said that she has taught courses on the subject, and I bet those were amazing!

Once I got home, I finished putting together the forms for my usability project and sent those out. I took a break from school for a few hours to cook dinner and talk to my mom on the phone. Today is my birthday, so it was my gift to myself! After that brief reprieve, I came back to the computer, and I have been reading metadata-related articles/blogs since then! I’m going to write a letter for my advisor to review, and probably work on my blogs a bit more.